Electronic Arts' Q4 FY12 and FY12 Financial Results are now online, offering balance sheets on the gaming giant along with tidbits of information about their operations. They report all-time high non-GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion for the fiscal year, and a jump in digital non-GAAP revenue of 47% to $1.2 billion. Included is a note saying Star Wars: The Old Republic has 1.3 million active subscribers, which Ars notes is down from a reported 1.7 million in March, confirming speculation the game has been losing subscribers. They also report n a post-earnings conference call where EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said the drop was consistent with their "original assumptions" about the Star Wars MMORPG's post-launch prospects, though he also stated EA "intends to increase subscribers" with continual upgrades, including new guild features, player vs. player improvements, and "elder gameplay" for high-level players. EA also announces two new content packs, "Legacy" and "Allies," will be coming to the game this quarter.

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I think people forget that an MMO doesn't need 10 million subscribers to be profitable. Before Wow there were several MMO's including EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, etc... that were lucky to have 100-200k subscribers and they were doing just fine.

The fallacy is expecting to have a juggernaut like Wow, the publishers should reign in their expectations to reasonable sustainable, numbers.

That being said, it's the dawn of f2p and subscription free mmo's that will dominate for the next several years. Games like Planetside 2, Firefall, Guild Wars 2, etc...

Most people have room for 1 subscription mmo, but they can have any number of f2p ones to supplement it.